Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Who Could Possibly Be "Undecided?" ... J. D. Longstreet

Who Could Possibly Be "Undecided?"A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
****************

I
don't get it. How could any sentient American, after nearly four years
of the reign of Obama, be "undecided" just 5 weeks before the
election? How is that even possible?

I don't buy it. I think they have already decided and just want the attention.

Maybe not.

It
smacks more of the MsM's drive to depress GOP voters and convince
republicans to stay home on election day than it does of the truth.

But then -- what is truth?

In
a country as plugged-in and wired as America, it just seems impossible
for anyone to have as much information heaped upon them as the residents
of this country and manage to remain undecided this late in the
presidential campaign. I think the bumper sticker imprinted with "If
you are still undecided, then you aren't paying attention" has more than
a little merit.

The so-called undecided voters scare the heck
out of me! They are said to be the "swing" voters this election cycle
and that ought to worry everyone. They are said to be less partisan and
less engaged. Neither condition creates any confidence in me, anyway,
that these people will wind up being informed voters. That is even
more frightening.

It is worrisome for me that the election could
hinge on how these less engaged voters mark their ballots. I can
visualize them standing in the voting booth, pencil in hand, saying:
eenie, meenie, minee, moe ... ! Like I said -- it scares the heck out
of me!

Another name for these undecideds is "low information"
voters. Huh? How is that even possible in America today. We have a
President who only stopped campaigning long enough for his swearing-in
at the inaugural at noon on January 20th, 2009, and a challenger who has
run for President at least twice and run for other public offices twice
more.

Every hour of every minute of the broadcast medium in the
US is saturated with political announcements either endorsing or
condemning both the candidates. Our phones ring off the hooks as
political pollsters call and campaign workers call, and the Lord only
knows who else.

Look. It is almost impossible NOT to have
more than enough information on both the candidates, at this point in
the election cycle , to make an educated choice between them.

I
think we are experiencing something my father used to call "willful
ignorance."Defined, "willful ignorance" is the result of a
concentrated effort on the behalf of the individual to avoid information
that might, when once received, (just might) endow the receiver with
something approaching responsibility to make a choice, to take a stand,
to act responsibly as a member of a constitutional republic. As long
as that information can be avoided, as long as the individual can remain
ignorant of it, then he/she can justify their shirking of
responsibility -- at least in their own minds.

I know people like
that, and I suspect that you do, as well. They are a part of every
group. They stand back, wait, watch, as the other members of the group
make the decisions that affect the entire group, then more often than
not, they offer criticism when the group's decision turns out to be less
than favorable to the group's effort. With apologies to our
church-going readers, one finds this sort of scenario quite often within
various church groups and even in congregations.

Doesn't it
strike you as dangerous that these are the people who will choose the
next leader of the free world, the man who will occupy the most powerful
office on the planet? As I said above: It scares the heck out of me!Democracy
and ignorance do not mix. Just take a look at the nations of the
Middle East and North Africa today. If additional evidence is required,
look at the results of the 2008 Presidential election in the US.

Democracy is a wonderful thing. But it is quite dangerous in the hands of the ignorant and/or the uninformed.

The experts tell us that as much as seven percent of the US electorate is undecided today.

The fact that these undecideds are party partisans reinforces my own opinion that their lack of information is willful.

OK.
Before I am lynched, let me state that yes, I know the population of
that seven percent is not static. Voters move into and out of the
undecided category all the time. But -- I'd bet there is a core that
remains stuck within that category ad infinitum.

Then there are
some, I'd venture to say, who are like a child in an ice cream parlor
completely overwhelmed with all the flavors available to him and totally
unable to choose which flavor he wants. (TWO candidates are
overwhelming?! Well -- YEAH!)

So. Here we are on the eve of
the eve of the most important event in the US since the ratification of
the US Constitution, an event that will decide if America remains free
or chooses the slavery of communism -- and we are at the mercy of a
tiny group of voters who can't decide which way to vote, or even if they
are going to vote. Many, I'd warrant, would like to shun the
responsibility to vote altogether -- and may. The score is
tied. The winning run is on third base. There are two outs. The
batter already has two strikes and three balls to his credit. Not
swinging at all, the batter is allowing every pitch to scream past the
plate. That's when I notice it is the bat boy timidly standing at the
plate with a white knuckle grip on that ash stick, pallid of face, and
sweating profusely. The pitcher winds up, launches a smoking fast ball
toward the plate, -- and -- I wake up.

Yeah, it IS a nightmare -- for BOTH democrats and republicans.

The fate of a nation hangs in the balance -- and -- please, Lord, let me wake up!

Update February 9, 2009: The worldwide financial crisis has made it harder on banks and credit card companies are facing rising delinquency...

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